[mirmiroa]

First of all i would like to clarify that i use my friends account who is an old member(i haven't got any sbr account) because it seems that some guys are trying to support the bookies based on the fact that this nickname(mirmiroa)had some posts related to sportingbet in the past.
I believe that I m Sportingbet’s biggest victim of all times, all over the world. This company is the biggest thieve in the betting industry.
Let me describe what happened: On the 26th of January I registered in SportingBet and Vistabet (a clone of Sportingbet) depositing 100 euros in each bookmaker. Sportingbet allows users to open accounts in both brands. Within 2 days, they credit a bonus of 100 euros in each account. Then I deposit again 4800 euros to each account, bringing my balance to 5.000 euros and a total exposure of 10.000 euros. Until this point everything is ok (since I m not a winning client yet).
After a winning streak, my balance in Sportingbet goes to 38865 euros, and in Vistabet goes to 40125 euros. This is an unthinkable balance for everyone, including me.
The next day I request withdrawals of the total amount in both bookmakers and they require from me an id, a utility bill and a screenshot of my Moneybookers account.
I sent them all the documents requested, plus a birth certificate, in order to make sure that everything is ok.
After this, they sent me an e-mail informing me that all documents are ok, and I can go on with the withdrawal. Meanwhile, they stopped my initial withdrawal request, and I had to login again and ask for a withdrawal.
In this point, I started making dreams on how to spend this money, that I urgently needed.
The next day, I found out that both of my accounts were locked, so I decided to contact them via live chat. During this live chat, the clerk requested that a phone call is needed. I called them on the phone and they started interrogating me, but unfortunately for them, they couldn’t find any wrong answer. Then, they told me that the phone number that I gave upon registration was a fake one, which is true, because I don’t want bookmakers to call me in the middle of the night. How could I possibly imagine, that this is a reason for not getting paid?
Then, they requested a phone call from a land line, and I called them from a land line. They informed me during our conversation, that they collected info from the Tele company and this land line doesn’t belong to me, which is also true but why should i provide a phone number that will belong to me?it could belong to someone else from my family or to our company.
They said, that for this reason, they cant pay me the winning amount, and they would just pay me only for the deposits that I made.
I couldn’t believe what was happening.
I m posting this, because I want people to know what Sportingbet is about.
I intent to inform ibas,lga and Antigua and Barbuda Directorate of Offshore Gaming.

I wanted to ask all of you. Is there any way I can pursuit this legally? It would be a great help if you could answer to this question.

Here are screenshots of my accounts.
You can see clearly, that they are taking from me 69.190 euros, just because the phone number didn’t belong to me.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/sp1xg.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/714/sp2xn.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/vista1t.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/42/vista2e.jpg/

and here is a screenshot of my mb account proving that they paid me only the deposits

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/194/mbasml.jpg/

[pjesnik24]

if everything is true what you have said then you should concider filing a complaint with IBAS and their regulator

[Gallin]

Yes. Send complaint to their regulator, Alderney gambling commision and IBAS. Complaining to the LGA and Antiqua requlator won't help you.

[mirmiroa]

i have already done all these...
and i am also contacting some jurnalists here in greece in order to publish the issue and press them to pay...i will also publish the issue on greek forums about stock markets because they are in greek stock market...and my last step will be to sue them but i dont know what procedure should i follow

[georgeor]

According to what mirmiroa posted, there is no case of gnoming or multi accounting. Even sportingbet itself, sais nothing about gnoming. I think that they are looking for an excuse not to pay. Probably the Greek branch is a small one, and the boss just dont like to pay.

[Gallin]

You said you created account on jan26, yet you have received a 11k payout from vistabet in 2009 according to post of yours: December 09 Live Payout Reports

[mirmiroa]

You said you created account on jan26, yet you have received a 11k payout from vistabet in 2009 according to post of yours: December 09 Live Payout Reports

a friend of mine uses my sbr account here too...i am not posting very often...do u believe that i could lie? i have lost a fortune..
i have already submited a complaint here...

[Jerm3462]

The phone # excuse is bullcrap, I live in a home and the phone isn't registered in my name. Wtf? :clueless:

these books act like we all live by ourselves.

[davidchong]

what u bet?, i saw a bet $500 for 10k ?,

[mirmiroa]

what u bet?, i saw a bet $500 for 10k ?,

villareal-barca 0-0 and during the match i covered some money laying the 0-0 at bf...resulting a huge damage to my pocket...its a crazy story i still cant believe it

[pjesnik24]

I saw you were pretty sure that barca will not score any goals in that game to place thousands
I am sure this hurts a lot, losing at betfair and winning at sportingbet and them taking your money. you must be 100-120k down?!?!
I would not want to be in your skin now... however, good luck

[virtozo]

didn't you read here before depositing 10k that they are not co-operating with SBR and rated D!?! then you go betting 1.6k@21 and winning and this on new accounts!?! gosh...good luck getting your money!

[lukahh]

...

[BET THE HOOK]

Another shit book tries to find a way not to pay. Just stay with the 5Dimes,DSI/Bookmakers,and Heritages of the sportsbook world.

[Maniac]

I dont see what the problem is here - surely if you just confirm your real phone number then surely all will be good and account open again ?

Alright I can see your point about not wanting calls etc - but if the Telephone number is part of thier verification setup, then that to me seems the simplest solution is to actually give it to them.

Failing that they must have some other way to verify you are who you say they are - I have read on here that books like 365 send out letters that you need to recieve in order to confirm your details are correct etc, so is this not an option here ?

It makes sense for a book to only send back deposits if there is any chance of possible fraud, in this case the fake phone number seems to have tripped a red flag, but that doesnt necessarily mean your money is actually lost - I would have thought once they are happy that you are who you say you are then the account would be reopened

[seljak]

You put 1800e on odds 21 in Barcelona match!?

[pjesnik24]

Arbed somewhere else!

of course he did, it is so obvious. anyways, I miscalculated in my previous post, he must be 55-65.000 (not 100-120k) down now at betfair or somewhere else. That is a huge hit and I hope he gets his money

[kostasgr]

You risked thousand of euros in order to win 200 euros from the bonuses?
You must be crazy friend...
Good luck anyway....

[seljak]

arbing....1800x21=37 800e + profit...
Two days ago I have made home/away win on one basket match Serbian league on Pinnacle and win 7e...I'm so pathetic
Do I need 20 000e to do arbing?

[dealer wins]

Opening 2 accounts with the same group at the same time to take the bonuses is stupid in the extreme, especially at a group rated D. Then betting a huge amount on a 20-1 shot and laying it is just asking for trouble. And the worst part is you purposely supplied a false telephone number, and when they pick this up and ask you specifically for your number, you give them yet another number that isnt yours. It stinks of fraud it really does. Trust me you are not going to get paid by them, not in a million years.

[Santo]

The extra 4800 with no bonuses to each account seems a little odd if just bonus hunting.

[damnasians]

That's a big hit.

A false phone number is no reason to not pay out. Tell them you don't have a landline - plenty of people don't! Ridiculous behaviour.

If your docs are in order, they should pay.

[pjesnik24]

You risked thousand of euros in order to win 200 euros from the bonuses?
You must be crazy friend...
Good luck anyway....

he did not risk it to win 200€ he was probably risking it to arb a safe (together with the bonuses at least) 500€. The problem is that Barca did not score in that one and he got stuck with much more than he hoped for. It seems that his other bets went the wrong way and this is what happened.
this is also a lesson for those who give advices to "arb their way out" of shady bookies. Even the odds of 21.00 can win sometimes and what then? arb it out again?

[Justin7]

I have the complaint. I have contacted them...

[pjesnik24]

please keep us updated

[noyb]

it's completely obvious the guy was multi-accounting. this doesn't sound like something someone with one account would do: not so much bonus-abusing, but hitting a soft book on an unlimited account with as much firepower as possible, since you know you will get limited within days anyway. after you're limited, move on to the next id. he got a bit unlucky with some big bets with high odds coming in with the book, instead of the betting exchange where he likely arbed everything.
regardless, the OP isn't going to admit this and will stick to his excuses, but it would explan the "problem" with the phone numbers (and also why the OP would use "somebody else's sbr-account". ffs, if you're trying to pretend to be multiple people, is it that hard to just create a 2nd SBR-account?). But Sportingbet knowing this guy is shady isn't enough to keep his funds, they need to prove it.

[Gallin]

it's completely obvious the guy was multi-accounting. this doesn't sound like something someone with one account would do: not so much bonus-abusing, but hitting a soft book on an unlimited account with as much firepower as possible, since you know you will get limited within days anyway. after you're limited, move on to the next id. he got a bit unlucky with some big bets with high odds coming in with the book, instead of the betting exchange where he likely arbed everything. regardless, the OP isn't going to admit this and will stick to his excuses, but it would explan the "problem" with the phone numbers (and also why the OP would use "somebody else's sbr-account". ffs, if you're trying to pretend to be multiple people, is it that hard to just create a 2nd SBR-account?). But Sportingbet knowing this guy is shady isn't enough to keep his funds, they need to prove it.

Exactly. Sportingbet rep responded on Greek forum that the guy had multiple accounts. Plus, multi accounting is very very popular in the Greek arber community.

[mirmiroa]

they dont have any proofs..there is no multiple-accounting issue..they realised their fault about the tel number excuse and now they are trying to make people believe that it was fraud or sth like that because nowadays multi-accounting is very common and sounds better to many ppl...
If they have any evidence about linked accounts i threat them to publish these info..or provide them to justin or sth like that...
Plz some guys here stop trying to prove that you are smarter than the others and you know what have happened..
Sooner or later all of you will face a similar situation( i hope that you wont but...)forums is the only wapon we have against bookies when they are trying to steal us...

[noyb]

mirmiroa, i don't expect you to confirm you were multi-accounting as it isn't in your interests to do so (and i understand that), but outright denying it, and suggesting any random bettor could encounter these same problems, makes you look a bit pathetic.

[kostasgr]

Exactly. Sportingbet rep responded on Greek forum that the guy had multiple accounts. Plus, multi accounting is very very popular in the Greek arber community.

Why especially "in the Greek arber community" ?
Vistabet and sportingbeg is something like TheGreek and Betjam(when it existed).Cris and 2BETDSI ,or Bwin and betoto.
It s allowed to have both accounts.
Don t say shit and feel the pain of the guy.
He lost at betfair about 50000 euros or 65000 dollars!
Big amount,especially when is your money and not just the winnings.